Antifriction bearing



Feb. 28, 1928.

J. F. OCONNOR ANTIFRICTION BEARING Filed Feb. 9, 1924 llll II A Patented Feb. 28, 1928.

* Wires stares 1 i orric 5 JOHN F. OCONNOR, or CHICAGO,ILLINOIS,ASSIG1\TOR,'BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, To

' W. H. MINER, ING A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

AHTIFRICTIO N' BEARING.

' Application filed rebmar 9,1192% Serial No; 691,828.

' This invention relates to improvements in anti-friction bearings. 7

One 7 object of this invention is to provide an anti-friction bearing especially adapted for use on railway cars, and wherein the parts areso arranged that'the antifriction elements-proper will return to nor-- mal position under the influence of gravlty when the load isreleased.

,tioned at one extreme end of its path of Another object of my invention is to provide an anti-friction bearing, especially adapted for railway side bearings, so designed thatv a plurality of anti-friction ele- More specifically, an object of the inven-:

tion is to provide an anti-friction bearing employing at least two rolling anti-friction elements, each of which is normally posimovement, said elements being oppositely I 'disposed so that one element will always be available for operation regardless of the d irection in whichthe side bearing is actuated,

- andwhereby said elements may be made automatically self-returning under the influence of gravity ments in alinement longitudinally of the bearing surface, I am enabled to use elements having a relatively wide bearing surface so that there will be no likelihood. of crushing or otherwise injuring the elements I under load.

Other objects and advantages'of the in'-' vention will be apparent from the description' and claims hereinafter following.

In the drawing forming a part of this specificatiom-Figurel is a vertical sectional view, taken through the ends of the body,

and truck bolsters of a railway car, showing 7 my, improvements in connection therewith.

And Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view,

without the aid of springs, orcounterweights. By arranging these eleelongated bearing surface thereon inclined downwardly'from the center thereof towardbothends, as indicated at 20, so as 90 taken substantially on the line 22- of Figu'rel. i

In saiddrawing, 1O denotes the under:portion ofthe body bolster of a railway car and 11 the upper portion of'the truck bolster 7 opposed thereto.

' Referring to the drawing, the improved side bearing isshown as applied to the truck bolster and comprises, broadly, a housingor retaining member A; av pair of anti-friction v elements B-B; and a bearing plate 0.

The housing A isof more or less box-like form, comprising side walls 12 and end walls 13, the latter being rounded so as to form end stops for the elements as shown, and the former having inwardlyextending flanges 14 attheir upper ends.

The housing is pro-- vided with lateral extensions 16 at its ends wherebytheyf may be; secured to the truck bolster, or as shown in the drawing, for'70 securement to the bottom plate C by means I of rivets' l'i, the bottom or hearing plate 0 being in turn mounted upon the bolster by any suitable means,-'as byrivets' 18.. The top and bottom of the'housing are open, and the anti-friction elements B are arranged I in longitudinal alinement therein soas to roll toward one. another and project through the openftopend of the housing.

These elements B, which are of like size and shape, arearrangedin alinement longitudinally of the housing, eachhaving trunnionsl 9'projecting outwardly from its axis, the flanges 14.0f the side wallspreventing the elements from beinglifted outwardly through the top of the housing. The top formed 7 with an surface ofthe plate C is i'that is to form a pair of inclined bearing surfaces for supporting the antiefriction rollers. I The operation of the bearing is asfollows.

Assuming that .theloaded bolster 10 is moved to the left relativelyof the bolster 11,

the anti-friction.elements being. in their normal position at the opposite ends of the housing and lying. against the, end-walls thereof,- the bolster 10 will engage the tops of both the anti-friction'eleinents, but inas- 1 roller which has been actuated or rolled, will automatically return under the influence of...

gravity to its normal position, resting against the end of the housing.' As the loaded bolster is moved in the reverse dlrection to that just described, that element B which formerly moved will rema n fixe while the other element which formerly remained stationary will take the, load and roll up its inclined bearing surface. a

' Thus itis seen that the elements are normally housing and when the body bolster moves in i one direction under ing, suchvpounding will v ments B are imum working travel for each allowed before engagement roller with the load, only one of the roller elements will take the load to the end of its travel, the element taking the load depending upon the direction of movement of the loaded bolster. I

1 As willbe understood bythose skilled in the art, the size of the rollers B and the' length of the inclined surfaces 20 for each roller will be so proportioned that the maxroller will be of the moving stationary roller.

' It will be noted that the anti-friction roll- 5 ers are'of maximum length so as to provide a largebearing surface for taking and transmitting the load, and thusavoid any likelihood of crushing or becoming otherwise injured under heavy loads. I

. As pointed out. in the description just preceding, only one of the rollingflelem'ents B, carries the load during the actual operation of the side bearing, but nevertheless, it will be apparent that when the two bolsters approach each other under conditions of actual service and cause what is known as poundbe taken by both of the elements B simultaneously, distributing this load over the maximum load taking I area.

As hereinbefore described, the two elemade of the same size and shape so that there is possibility of the body right-hand element B as 2 when the body bolster comes move in one direction. that due to unavo dable variations in manufacture and from wear, one of the elements bolster being in contact with both elements simultaneously 7 when the bolster starts to B, as for'instance, the left-hand element B, may be engaged slightly in advance of the viewed in Figure 1 downand starts j to move toward the left/ In either case ii-however,

v the hearing will function properly, 'due to the fact that .it is mounted on the cars adapted forattachment to a truck'bolster retained at the opposite ends of the It is also possible.

nal separation of body bolster shifts relatively to the truck bolster. w 7

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carrying out my invention but the same is merely illustrative "and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In an anti-friction bearingfor railway the combination with a housing and having a bottom bearing surface thatis inclined downwardly from the center to both ends; of a pair of anti-friction 'rolle'rs'normally arranged at the opposite lower ends of said inclined bearing surface, whereby only one of said rollers at a'time will take the load to the end of travel and roll upwardly when the body bolster moves relatively to the truck bolster.

2. In an anti-friction bearing, the combination with a support; of a pairof rollers carried by said support, said rollers-being engag'eable with a co-operating bearing surface which is relatively movable with re- I spect to said support; means on said support for positively limiting movement of one 0 said rollers in one direction; means for displacing said roller toward said bearing surface upon movement of said roller in a direction away from means; means for'positively limiting movement of the other roller in said last named direction; and means for displacing said last the movement limiting named roller toward said bearing surfaces when moved in adirection away from the movement limiting means co-operating.

therewith.

' ,3. In an anti-friction bearing, ,the combination with a support; of movable rollers carried by said support; means for positively limiting movement of one of said rollers in one direction and for positively limiting movement of the other roller inthe opposite direction; and-a bearing surface on said support for. each roller, said bearing surfaces being inclined upwardly away from said means for positively limiting movementof the rollers.

"4. Inan anti-friction bearing, the combination with a housing; ofa plurality of anti-friction rollers within the housing, said rollers being relatively movable toward each other lengthwise of the housing; means for positively limiting the extent of longitudisaid rollers; means forelevatlng each of said rollers when moved away from said limiting means by contact with an gravity when contact between said roller and actuating member to maintain contact of the actuating member is broken.

said actuated roller with the actuating mem- In itness that I claim the foregoing I 10 ber and break contact between the vother have hereunto subscribed my namethis 5th 5 roller and thevactuating'me nber, said disday of February, 1924. V

placed roller being free to return to the normal separated position due to the action of I I JOHN F OCONN OR. 

